Human
by youcanreachthestars
Summary: "He floated through the corridors of Hogwarts, ignoring the startled whispers and shaking fingers aimed in his direction. He only had his sights set on the one girl. The one person, ahead of him." Cedric comes back for a week. Oneshot. Cedric/Cho


**A/N: Hi everyone. I've been so tired lately, but I really wanted to update with something, and I've felt quite bad not putting anything too amazing up for a while, so here you go. It's really nothing too amazing, so don't expect much, but, here you go.**

**Disclaimer: Own nothing. Except the plot. :)**

**xx**

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Cedric Diggory was a stalker. Well, partially. He was a ghost.

Much like Moaning Myrtle, that daft girl in the pigtails who haunted the girls bathroom on the second floor, he had returned as a ghost to haunt someone.

When he first returned, he wasn't entirely sure who he would stalk. He was clingy by nature. All he knew was that he couldn't face what was back there, what was after life, in death, after death. He had no idea, and wasn't ready to face that kind of ambiguity.

So he came back.

Just for a week.

He came back.

* * *

He floated through the corridors of Hogwarts, ignoring the startled whispers and shaking fingers aimed in his direction. He only had his sights set on the one girl. The one person, ahead of him.

His mind was buzzing with adrenaline, his heart was shivering, his stomach clenching. He was about to talk to Cho, he was about to show her he really existed. He was here, and he could say goodbye properly. He could tell her he loved her.

* * *

He saw the back of her shining black hair disappear through the door, then watched the door disappear as well. How appropriate for his life at the moment- everything slowly disappearing and disintegrating.

He stood back, and watched as hordes of his old fellow classmates went through that door, after traipsing back and forth in front of it three times, each time. As though they weren't quite sure of something, as though they were chanting something in their head.

He held his breath, as he saw Harry Potter walk up to the door, with his friend Ron Weasley. So, he had gotten out of the graveyard alive. He had heard whispers of what had gone on, but hadn't really believed them.

* * *

"What are you supposed to do again?"

"You walk past the door three times, thinking in your head something along the lines of "I need access to Dumbledore's Army." Just chant it over and over again."

"Ok."

* * *

Cedric hesitated. He had no idea what Dumbledore's Army was, so he knew it wouldn't work for him. He didn't know what to say.

He frowned. Paced a couple of times. Considered multiple possibilities.

But then he knew.

"Let me in to where Cho Chang is."

And just like that, the door appeared.

* * *

As soon as he was inside, he slunk into the nearest corner. Had anyone seen him? No. Thank Merlin. He had to wait, be patient, and ensure Cho was on her own.

He stayed in the corner during the entire DA session. He grudgingly admired Harry Potter, teaching everyone how to defend themselves like this, helping them to survive in this difficult time, what with You Know Who back from the dead.

Without warning, Potter's voice rang out over the heads of his classmates. "That's enough thanks everyone, Merry Christmas!"

The crowd began to thin.

* * *

His mouth dangled open, his eyes bugged, his breath stilled. His heart had frozen with complete and utter horror, at the scene unfolding in front of his eyes.

Mistletoe.

Potter.

Cho.

Crying.

And a kiss.

Anger began to build up inside of Cedric, threatening to explode. Cho was his girl, his, and she had promised him so at the Yule Ball last year. She had sworn it to him, that she would belong to him forever.

His vision clouded red, and he walked straight through the wall to the corridor beyond, leaving the kissing couple behind him.

* * *

He sat on the window ledge of the Hufflepuff dormitory gazing out at the moonlight, soaking the grounds of Hogwarts in a washed-out milky liquid emanating from the sky. The sky was a deep rich black, extending on and on forever. Was that what death was like? He didn't know. But he wanted to find out now. The only reason he had come back was to see Cho again, to make it up to her, to hold her in his arms one last time, however difficult that would be.

He gazed up at the billions of stars, scarring the sky, and thought, my life is now like that. It used to be a black, silky band of wholesome normality, but now it was being slowly shredded. He was a _ghost._ His girlfriend was hooking up with his _arch nemesis._ What more could he do? He wanted to go back.

His eyes scanned the grounds, jumping from the Forbidden Forest, to Hagrid's Hut, to the Quidditch pitch, and finally rested on a tiny figure by the Black Lake, hunched over.

* * *

He glided down the staircases, infuriated at the length of time it was taking. One, two, three, four, five… ten… twenty… they seemed neverending. Until he realised he was actually capable of floating in mid-air. Things started to get a little quicker then.

He flew through the Great Hall, desperation accumulating inside of him, leaking out of his pores.

Out the doors, and into the cold, dewy night, where the air was laced with droplets of icy water, and his breath appeared in front of him. A frozen night; a frozen time.

* * *

He settled down beside his old girlfriend, noticing the solidified tears resting on her cheeks, like tiny gemstones glittering in the wash of moonlight. He cleared his throat softly, and bit his lip as she jumped.

"Hey Cho."

She stared at him, her dark eyes wide and disbelieving- yet with a hint of hopefulness somewhere in the depths.

"Cedric? Really? Is it actually-"

Then he was pressing his lips to her, and they were the only two things, and they were on the grass besides the Black Lake, and they were coated in a layer of moonshine, and nothing would ever bother then again.

He even felt human. In between kisses, and gasps of delight at being with Cho again, he glanced down at his body, and was astounded to see that it was no longer the colour of a pearl, but the colour of a human.

He was really back.


End file.
